The present invention relates to brassieres and particularly to brassieres in which the breast cups thereof are provided with means for supplementing the support of the wearer's breasts. In the prior art, such additional support was conventionally obtained by providing wires, stays, or the like along the bottom part of each of the breast cups. Such arrangements, however, soon proved to be unsatisfactory because of the substantial discomfort imparted to the wearer by the pressure of such auxiliary supporting means upon the body of the wearer.
In order to overcome the above pointed out disadvantages, the prior art adopted the use of supplementary fabric layers secured in one form or another to the cup proper for such reinforcement purposes. Typical examples of such prior art are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,128,600, 2,604,625, and 2,899,961.
With the advent of molded brassieres wherein the conical shape of the breast cup was obtained during a molding operation, further means were devised for incorporating support material for the cup within the breast cups. A recent example illustrating the incorporation of auxiliary support means in a molded cup is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,172,002. In accordance with the disclosure of this patent, a segregated fabric portion is laminated to a selected thermoplastic support material and a flat support patch is then die cut out of the lamination. Such patch, intended to ultimately be located at the bottom part of the breast cup, is then adhered, in flat condition, to a fabric ply, also in flat condition, to create a unitary cup segment which is then molded into the required cup shape.
In accordance with this procedure, two laminating steps are in fact required before the molding operation can take place and the result obtained by such procedure leaves the support patch in surface to surface engagement with the wearer's breast when the brassiere is worn.
While this latter described procedure may constitute an improvement over the premolding methods referred to above, it is still not entirely satisfactory.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a brassiere having molded cups provided with molded in supplementary support means in an improved and simplified manner not previously disclosed in the prior art.